Book Details

An eclectic volume introduced by Guillermo del Toro and compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, who don’t leave a stone unturned in their search for nonrequired gems.

 

Foreword by Dave Eggers 

Introduction by Guillermo del Toro

  I

Best American Fax from Don DeLillo from Pen America

Best American WikiLeaks Revelations

Best American New Band Names

Best American Very Short Story from Subtropics, Padgett Powell

Best American Even Shorter Story from Harper’s, Amy Hempel

Best American Lawsuits

Best American Adjectives, Nouns, and Verbs Used in Reporting on the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010

Best American New Entries to the O.E.D. Beginning with the Letter H

Best American Profile of an International Pop Star from GQ , Gary Shteyngart

Best American Commune Names

Best American Ominous Place Names

Best American Call of Duty Handles

Best American WiFi Network Names

Best American Best American Categories that Got Cut

Best American Mark Twain Quotes from The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1

Best American Poems Written in Response to Arizona Senate Bill 1070

II

Daniel Alarcón. Second Lives from The New Yorker

Adama Bah. An Oral History Of Adama Bah from Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice

Tom Barbash. The Women from www.narrativemagazine.com

Clare Beams. We Show What We Have Learned from Hayden’s Ferry Review

Joshuah Bearman. Art Of The Steal from Wired

Sloane Crosley. Le Paris! from How Did You Get This Number

Tim Crothers. Game Of Her Life from ESPN The Magazine

William Deresiewicz. Solitude And Leadership from The American Scholar

Anthony Doerr. The Deep from Zoetrope: All-Story

Neil Gaiman. orange from Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine

Mohammed Hanif. Butt And Bhatti from Granta

Chris Jones. Roger Ebert: The Essential Man from Esquire

Charlie LeDuff. What killed aiyana stanley-jones? from Mother Jones

J. Robert Lennon. Weber’s Head from Salamander

Mac McClelland. For Us Surrender Is Out Of The  Question from Mother Jones

Joyce Carol Oates. A Hole In The Head from The Kenyon Review

Michael Paterniti. The Suicide Catcher from GQ

Henrietta Rose-Innes. Homing from Agni

Anjali Sachdeva. Pleiades from Gulf Coast

Olivier Schrauwen. The Imaginist from Mome

James Spring. Mid-Life Cowboy from This American Life

James Sturm. Market Day from Market Day

Joan Wickersham. The Boys’ School, or The News From Spain from Agni

 

Contributors’ Notes

The Best American Nonrequired Reading Committee

Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2010

About 826 National

About ScholarMatch

Other distinguished nonrequired reading, selected by series editor Dave Eggers and the 826 Kids.

A-B
Abdoh, Salar Sad Bully with a Big Badge The Drawbridge
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi Birdsong The New Yorker
Ahn, Michael Flesh Alaska Quarterly Review
Als, Hilton His Sister, Her Monologue McSweeney's
Arellano, Gustavo Mi Casa Es Mi Casa OC Weekly
Aviv, Rachel Which Way Madness Lies Harper's
Ayo, Darryl Little Garden self-published mini-comic
Bachelder, Chris Toward a Theory of Surprise The Believer
Bales, Amanda A Measured Yield Southern Humanities Review
Baron, Zach The End of the Story The Believer
Bauman, M. Garrett Free The Common Review
Beiser, Vince Resurrecting the Dead Sea Miller-McCune
Beitelman, TJ Manna Bellevue Literary Review
Bellizzi, Ben Clean, Straight Lines Monday Night
Bernard, Jay Land Narrative Wasafiri
Blaisdell, Sara Brothers from Another Planet This American Life
Borges, Jorge Luis (trans. by Alfred MacAdam) Insane Human Afternoons The Drawbridge
Boudinot, Ryan Composing the Wilderness www.therumpus.net
Bowe, Taryn Proper Breathing The Greensboro Review
Boyle, Megan Clams www.muumuuhouse.com
Boyle, T. Coraghessan What Separates Us From the Animals Harper's
Brandon, John The Occurrences McSweeney's
Brockmeier, Kevin Ryan Shifrin Tin House
Brown, Jason Guests Open City
Brown, Tess Riddle Green Mountains Review
C-D
Carre, Lilli One Way to Disappear PENAmerica
Celona, Marjorie All Galaxies Moving Crazyhorse
Celona, Marjorie Family Stories Glimmer Train
Chinitz, Julie Lou Rosenthal's Answer to Harold Rosenthal's Complaint (1980) Crazyhorse
Christy, Bryan The Kingpin National Geographic
Church, Steven All of a Dither Agni
Cohen, Joshua The Joshuas Cohen, 2010 Puerto del Sol
Colombe, Audrey White Horse Puerto del Sol
Crumb, R. The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb W.W. Norton
Culver, S. J. First-Order Differential Equations Puerto del Sol
Davis, Lawrence-Minh Bui Like the Locked Antlers McSweeney's
Davis, Vanessa Big Fun Make Me a Woman
Debeljak, Erica Johnson The Apple and Paradise Too The Pinch
Di Giovanni, Janine The Book of the Dead Granta
Dostert, Mark Behavior Management Cimarron Review
Doyle, Brian King of the Losers New Letters
Dunn, Katherine Rhonda Discovers Art The Paris Review
E-F
Edward-Corbett, Sara The Bird, The Mouse, and the Sausage Mome
Egan, Jennifer Safari The New Yorker
Emmons, Josh Arising The American Scholar
Engberg, Susan A Clean Bowl Epoch
Evens, Brecht The Wrong Place Drawn & Quarterly
Fairchild, B. H. Logophilia New Letters
Fajardo-Anstine, Kali Remedies Bellevue Literary Review
Flynn, Sean Boom GQ
Frank, John Pink Suitcases The Sun
Frank, Thomas Bright Frenetic Mills Harper's
Friedman, Andrew Alien Snow Ghost Town
G-H
Garcia, J. Malcolm Bed 18 www.guernicamag.com
Gilb, Dagoberto Shout The Barcelona Review
Gisleson, Anne Rise off Your Knees, New Orleans Oxford American
Glaser, Rachel B. The Jon Lennin Xperience Puerto del Sol
Haederle, Michael The Best Fiscal Stimulus: Trust Miller-McCune
Ham, Anthony Island in the Sand The Virginia Quarterly Review
Hays, Karen Clockwise Detorsion of Snails The Normal School
Hecht, Jamey Tim the Immortal Giraffe: True Story American Short Fiction
Hedtke, Lacey Prpic Likes/Dislikes self-published zine
Hempel, Amy Greed Ploughshares
Henderson, Smith Number Stations One Story
Holmberg, Pablo Eden Drawn & Quarterly
Hunt, Samantha The Messenger A Public Space
Hyesoon, Kim Seoul, Kora Azalea
Hye-Young Pyun The First Anniversary Azalea
I-J
Iskandrian, Kristen Small Acts of Violence Leading Indirectly to the Wiring Issue that Caused the Complex to Burn Down Mississippi Review
Jada, Michael and Derek Van Gieson Devil Doll Mome
Jamison, Peter Head Case SF Weekly
K-L
Kenarov, Dimiter It's Impossible to Leave Iraq Esquire
Keret, Etgar Lieland Zoetrope: All-Story
Khong, Rachel Today is a Fish Phoebe
Kritikos, Ted I Would Get to Try Life Noon
Lacey, Michael What's Mom Worth? Phoenix New Times
Lake, Thomas Five-Year-Old-Slugger Sports Illustrated
Larsen, Reif The Puppet One Story
Li, Yiyun A Small Sacrifice The Threepenny Review
Lin, Tao Richard Yates Melville House Publishing
Lipsyte, Sam The Worm in Philly The Paris Review
Loffreda, Beth The Silver Medalist Epoch
Lomax, John Nova Lawn Mower Man Houston Press
M-N
MacLean, David The Answer to the Riddle Is Me This American Life
MacNaughton, Wendy San Francisco Civic Center Farmers' Market Farmers in Their Own Words www.therumpus.net
Mayhew-Bergman, Megan The Social Life of Mice Alaska Quarterly Review
Mazzini, Miha That Winter Ecotone
McElroy, Joseph The Campaign Trail Golden Handcuffs Review
Michaels, Sean The Lizard, the Catacombs, and the Clock Brick
Millet, Lydia Jimmy Carter's Rabbit The Baffler
Millhauser, Steven Phantoms McSweeny's
Millionaire, Tony Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird Fantagraphics Books
Mockenhaupt, Brian Hood Esquire
Moxley, Scott The Real Squatters OC Weekly
Neal, Nate Magpie Inevitability Mome
Nevo, Eshkol Before the Next World Cup PEN America
Nuila, Ricardo Dog Bites McSweeny's
O-P
O'Malley, Daniel Max Adler is Missing Meridian
O'Reilly, Sally Performance Night at the Thinkery Picpus
Offutt, Chris Ghosts in the Attic Jelly Bucket
Oswalt, Patton Peter Runfola Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
Parker, Jeff The Deportation of Evgeny Maximovich Ghost Town
Paynter, Ben Welcome to Armageddon, USA Wired
Pendergast, Alan Wheel Man Denver Westword
Perez, Alex Eggs Subtropics
Planco, Alfred Watertowers Are People TOo self-published zine
Pomerantz, Sharon Oxford Circle Michigan Quarterly Review
Q-R
Rakoff, David Isn't It Romantic? Half Empty
Rayner, Richard Shoot the Ref Black Clock
Rehill, Evan Landon Sheinblatt American Short Fiction
Reyes, Paul Opportunity Knocks Virginia Quarterly Review
Ristow, Ben Saint Jerome and the Dumpster Girls Bomb
Robin, Corey Conservatism and Counterrevolution Raritan
Roychoudhuri, Onnesha Books After Amazon Boston Review
Rubin, Paul Honor Thy Father SF Weekly
Ruland, Tim Fight Songs Annalemma
Rulfo, Juan (trans. by Ilan Stavans) It's Because We're So Poor Agni
S-T
Sacco, Joe The Unwanted The Virginia Quarterly Review
Schwartz, Mattathias Firing Line New York Times Magazine
Sellers, Heather Men and Refrigeration New Ohio Review
Sepulveda, Luis The House in Santiago Make
Shaw, Sam The Silver Lining Harper's
Shepard, Jim Courtesy for Beginners A Public Space
Siegel, Robert Anthony Sean Harvard Review
Skloot, Floyd Something to Marvel At Prairie Schooner
Sloan, Aisha Fawlanionese Michigan Quarterly Review
Speer, Morgan Turbulence New Letters
Steinberg, Susan Superstar Pleiades
Stiem, Tyler Goodbye, Bablyon King The Virginia Quarterly Review
Swidey, Neil One Desperate Night The Boston Globe Magazine
Tamaki, Jiliian Indoor Voice Drawn & Quarterly
Tatsumi, Yoshihiro Black Blizzard Drawn & Quarterly
Thrasher, Steven White America Has Lost Its Mind Village Voice
Tower, Wells Own Goal Harper's
U-V
Unferth, Deb Olin Want Noon
Valente, Anne A Very Compassionate Baby Annalemma
Vollmann, William T. Too Late A Public Space
W-X
Williams, Joy Baba Iaga and the Pelican Child Electric Literature
Wolf, Gary A Data-Driven Life New York Times Magazine
Wood, Graeme Limbo World Foreign Policy
Wyman, Annie Julia A Glimpse of Unplumbed Depths The Believer
Y-Z
Yeh, James 9/16/10 Swill Children
Yoder, Rachel Deliver Me www.therumpus.net
Yu, Charles Designer Emotion 67 Oxford American